Dublin Anti-Water Charge Protests Bring City To A Halt

Anti-water charge protests have brought Dublin City to a standstill as thousands took to the streets against the proposed charges earlier this afternoon. Although there are no official figures for the demonstrations yet, the protesters were joined by similar marches around the country with protests taking place in Cork, Limerick, Galway, Sligo, Waterford and Donegal. According to RTE, Sligo protesters burned Irish Water registration packs outside the office of local Fine Gael TD John Perry, with local groups demonstrating in towns, and villages across the country. The latest rounds of protests take place as Irish Water confirmed that roughly 660,000 households still haven't registered for billing ahead of the Monday deadline. The Dublin rally was organised by local anti-water charge groups, who met at 3pm outside the GPO. According to The Irish Times, the rallies have caused major traffic disruption and road closures in the city, with groups marching from Christ Church, Rialto, Connolly and Heuston stations, making their way towards the GPO. The crowd were addressed by speakers at the GPO, who kicked off the main rally at 3pm. Speaking about the proposed charges, Deputy Richard Boyd-Barrett of the People Before Profit Alliance says the public won't back down: "People do not accept that the so-called concessions the Government made on water charges are enough. "They want water charges scrapped completely, and today we will see tens of thousands of people across the country sending a clear statement to the Government that the water charges must go and that the campaign of protest and popular revolt against this hated water tax will continue and escalate." The Dublin rallies follow a verbal attack of President Michael D Higgins earlier this week – where he was heckled by anti-water charge protesters as he left a Coláiste Eoin secondary school in Finglas. Video footage showed President Higgin’s car being surrounded by angry protesters who shouted ‘traitor’ and called the president a “little midget parasite” as Gardaí attempted to hold back the group.